Demand Revival Spurs TSMC Sales, Profits
by Mike Clendenin, EETimes
Semiconductor Business News
07/24/2003, 5:21 AM ET
TAIPEI -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. sales and profits hit two and a half year highs in the second quarter and the company expects the "fine performance" to continue this quarter as the beginnings of a tech recovery take deeper root.
Sales for the second quarter reached NT$49,922 million ($1.43 billion), with profit of NT$11,730 million ($338 million). On a sequential basis, second quarter sales grew 26.9 percent and profit soared 169.2 percent. Year on year, sales were up 13 percent; profit was up 26 percent.
The foundry said wafer shipments should increase by several percent in the third quarter, and ASPs should "hold firm with potential to improve." The company said revenues from advanced processes (0.18-micron to 0.13-micron) will account for about two-thirds of third quarter revenues.
The foundry's overall utilization rate will exceed 90 percent, compared to 88 percent in Q2, with demand declining for PC products but increasing for consumer and communications products. Its 2003 capex expenditures should land around $1.25 billion, halfway between its earlier estimate of $1 billion to $1.5 billion.
Despite the good results, TSMC Chairman Morris Chang wasn't convinced that a tech recovery was underway. "I don't think you can call it a recovery -- at least not yet," he said at TSMC's quarterly conference held Thursday in Taipei. "Specific companies have done well and we are one of them."
Even though utilization will increase, Chang said the company would have no problem with matching capacity increases to demand. In general, he said the ramp-up is slower for 130nm and more predictable because it is coming from fewer, yet bigger, customers, which contrasts with the transition to 180nm.
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"Due to growth in customer demand, TSMC's 2003 second quarter wafer shipments continued to increase, reaching 887,000 eight-inch-equivalent wafers, for a 28 percent increase over last quarter. On a sequential basis, average selling price (ASP) increased four percent due to improving product mix. However, non-wafer-manufacturing sales for the second quarter decreased slightly compared to last quarter," said TSMC spokesperson and senior vice president Harvey Chang.
Harvey Chang also said, "Revenues from TSMC's advanced process technologies, including 0.18-micron and below process technologies accounted for 62 percent of total wafer sales in the second quarter of 2003.
"The 0.13-micron process technology alone accounted for 17 percent of the total sales. In addition, the average utilization rate for the second quarter of 2003 increased to 88 percent from 69 percent for the first quarter of 2003. As a result, gross margin for the second quarter of 2003 improved to 36.8 percent from 26.4 percent in the previous quarter. We expect this fine performance will extend into the coming quarter." |
